Ancient and Modern
On Time Again
So last month the observatory clocks decided is was 1995. A software bug interfered with proper decoding of the GPS time signal. For a few weeks we got by by kludging two of the old clocks together in a creative way to provide good time for the telescopes.
The new clocks are now fully online and operational. I ran one of the new time servers for a couple weeks while keeping the old time servers in place as a backup. These have now been removed, with a second new unit installed as an in-place spare.
Hopefully this will keep everything on-time for the foreseeable future. Two new precision clocks, Microsemi SyncServer S350’s, time accurate to microseconds.
Meantime there may be a fix for the old equipment, a new GPS module by Heol Design. We have one on order to try. It would be a shame to throw out these very nice clocks.
WHAC Visits Subaru
Over the past few years the West Hawaii Astronomy Club has visited nearly every telescope on Mauna Kea. One glaring exception to this is Subaru, the 8.2 meter telescope belonging to NAOJ.
Subaru is the only telescope with an active tour program. By making reservations ahead of time you can visit the interior of the facility with a guide. This made making the arrangements for a tour quite simple, even when the observatories are worried about events on the mountain. We did quite well for tour guides, Rieko Murai and Josh Walawender made the tour a bit better than the usual tour. Josh is well known to the local amateur community, bringing his own small telescopes to observe at the VIS.
The limit for any group visiting the telescope is eight due to practical considerations such as safety. Thus I had set up two tours, using both the 10:30 and 11:30 slots. This allowed most of the club an opportunity to visit the telescope. This did mean we were unable to enjoy the experience together. While we waited for our later tour I led a short walk to some interesting geologic features and one of the ancient ahu that are near the road.
Venus and Jupiter
Over the next two months the two brightest visual planets will dance in the sunset. Jupiter and Venus make for a brilliant pairing. With Venus shining at -4.3 and Jupiter somewhat dimmer at magnitude -1.9, the two are already quite obvious in the evening sky. Jupiter will swing just north of Venus approaching to within 0.3° on June 30th. The pair will separate slowly after that and disappear into the sunset glow together.
Around June 30th the two will be easily close enough to bee seen together in the low power view of amateur telescopes. It makes a fascinating sight to see the two planets together in the eyepiece.
As an added bonus the planet Mercury will join the pair around August 3rd, the trio forming a nice triangle of bright planets low in the sunset.
Not a Bullet Hole
When the police reports hit the web we were all a bit worried. A bullet hole reported in a door at Subaru Observatory. The photos circulated shortly after the reports did not help, it really looked like a bullet hole in the door.
Arriving at the summit Monday morning we took the few minute walk over to Subaru to look at the door in question.
This was not a bullet hole.
Postcard from the Reef – Gold Lace
Venus at Maximum Elongation
Today Venus will be at maximum eastern elongation, as high in the evening sky as it will appear for this current apparition. After today the planet will begin a slow slide back into the sunset, passing through inferior conjunction on August 15th and reappearing in the dawn during the first weeks of September.
Look for Venus to pass by the Beehive cluster around Jun 12th and have a close conjunction with Jupiter on a few evenings around Jun 30th.
Mango!
It is that time again… Mango season.
The fruit are just starting and I was only able to find enough for one dehydrator load. Over the next week there will be more fruit reaching that perfect ripeness. The fruit do not last long, there is only a few days for any given fruit before it spoils. Fortunately not all the fruit ripen at once, each visit to the tree finding a few more ready.
With this sort of bounty the fruit must be used quickly. I will give some away, taking them into work. Much of the harvest will go into the dehydrator, saved for later with a little processing.
Actually we get a couple mango seasons in our back yard. The trees I have are a different variety than the huge tree that overhangs our yard from the neighbor’s. It is just showing small starts right now, it will be later in the summer before those fruit are ready.
Mercury Appears in the Dawn
The planet Mercury is starting a morning apparition. The planet should become visible this week just above the dawn as a magnitude -1 object. The planet is moving more than 1° further from the Sun and higher in the morning sky each day, reaching a maximum elongation of 22° on June 24th.
Full Moon
